by Kirby Hasseman
I love to read. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not because I love the feeling of “curling up with a good book.” That’s fine, I guess. But my personality does not really lend me to a curling up kind of guy. I love it because I feel like reading pushes me. It makes me think. It inspires me to push harder. But sometimes it’s hard to recommend books because your need depends on your area of interest or need.
So I usually default to some of the books that I have enjoyed lately.
That’s cool…but I thought it might be helpful to break it down via “area of interest.”
So here are 7 sales books that I have loved and have helped me grow.
1. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: You might be saying “but this is not a sales book.” You would be wrong. It’s a “better human” book. If you follow these principles, you will be a better sales person. Period.
2. The Ultimate Sales Machine: I loved the overall sales process that Chet Holmes outlined in this one. It inspired me. And if you look at the life of selling results (regardless of industry) Chet had the goods.
3. High Trust Selling: This book changed my business. I love the concept of the 80/20 rule of sales that Todd Duncan lines up in this book. For me, this is when I took the “next step” in my sales career and hired an assistant. It was a leap of faith for sure. And I took it because of this book.
4. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion: If you want to affect people’s behavior, you need to understand their psychology. Why do we do what we do? This book, originally written as an academic text for psychology, has become a sales “must read.”
5. The 10X Rule: If you need a red bull style kick in the pants, Grant Cardone has you covered. I love goals. But Cardone takes it to the next level. I listen to this one and he gets me fired up to attack the day.
6. Fanatical Prospecting: This book was another book that really grabbed me by the collar. It tells you things that (as a salesperson) you might not want to hear…but you need to hear. If you want to have more sales, you need to do Fanatical Prospecting.
7. The Sales Acceleration Formula: This is one that taps in the science of the sale when it comes to the basics of content marketing. From one of the early leaders at Hubspot, this one will make you think of your sales process…and how to turn it on its ear.
This is hardly an exhaustive list. But there are some really good ones here that have inspired me at different times on my sales career! What are your favorite sales books? Let me know! Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up for the VIP newsletter here and we send out a weekly wrap up of everything!
by Kirby Hasseman
A ladle and a spoon are both perfectly good utensils. They are just designed for different purposes.
The spoon is a single sized utensil that allows you to efficiently and effectively serve yourself. The ladle is a larger tool that is better served being used to put larger helpings on others plates. It’s designed for serving others.
Yes you can serve others with a spoon, but it’s not efficient. Yes, you can serve yourself with the ladle, but that’s not it’s purpose.
The challenge, I see, is that most people are walking around life with only a spoon. We only seek to serve ourselves. We see the world through the lens of “looking out for number one.” It causes us to be myopic and selfish. There are certainly times when we need to serve ourselves, but it’s not a rewarding long term way to go through life.
Instead, today I encourage you to at least take the ladle with you. Be on the look out for reasons and opportunities to provide others value. Look for reasons to share and serve. It might be as simple as doing your job in a generous way…or it might be paying for someone’s lunch. Whatever. Just look for a way to set down your spoon for a bit today…and serve.
How can we serve you?
I wrote this a few years ago…and I want to add this caveat today. Both the spoon and the ladle are important. It’s important to serve. But it IS important to take care of yourself too. The challenge, as I see it, is that we usually carry only one. We either are selfish and only carry the spoon. Or we focus solely on the ladle…and we can become burned out and jaded. Make sure to carry both utensils in your backpack today.
Our goal here is to provide you value each day (to serve you). Make sure you never miss an update by signing up for our VIP newsletter. You can do that here.
by Kirby Hasseman
There are going to be times when you are “wronged.” The person on the other end of the conversation or interaction will be a jerk. They will say the wrong thing or mean the wrong thing. It’s their fault. But in those instances, I always find something in the interaction that I could have done better. I could have been kinder. I could have had a longer fuse. I could have taken more time to explain. It might have been their fault. But each interaction is my responsibility. It’s my responsibility to make it better. It’s my responsibility to be better next time. Stop looking for people to blame. Start looking to see how you can make it better. Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up for the VIP newsletter here!
by Kirby Hasseman
We all need to be inspired sometimes. There are going to be days when you don’t “feel like” doing the work. So I am constantly on the lookout for things that fire me up. That way, when I hit that spot (and we all inevitably do) when I don’t want to do anything, I know where to go to find some motivation. 
That’s what led me to this interview. On this Impact Theory interview with Tom Bilyeu, Tom interviews Ed Mylett. This was my first introduction to Ed Mylett…and wow! This was impressive. There were several takeaways from this interview that were powerful. But probably my favorite is the idea of “keeping promises I made to myself.” Mylett and Bilyeu talk about ways to increase your success and to make an impact throughout the interview. But one big takeaway from Mylett is that you need to change your identity and your expectations from life. In order to do that you need to increase your self confidence and your self worth. Makes sense right? When asked how to increase your self confidence, Mylett talks about keeping promises you make to yourself. If you want to get in better shape, you need to set simple goals for yourself that you can check off the list. If you want to make more sales, you know the activities you need to do. They are simple…not easy. But when you do get up and do the workout, it creates a sense of worth in you. It raises your level of confidence. It’s not an outward activity. It is you keeping a promise to you. By doing this over and over again, you create habits that will help to propel you toward your goals. I love it. My recommendation? Spend the time and watch this interview. I have. Now I am looking for other material from Ed Mylett so that I can motivate myself on the days I don’t want to keep my promises. Make sure you never miss an update or a chance to be inspired, sign up for our VIP newsletter here.
by Kirby Hasseman
One of the things I love about Promotional Products is that they affect human behavior. If you want people to work safer, come to your store, visit your website or sign up for a trial…a promo product will consistently drive behavior. This is not the first time I have said this…I talk about it here. But how do you take SWAG up a notch? Add a Brand Experience to the event! This takes the power of promo and makes it fun and emotional! There are many ways to do this. Recently, I partnered with Jeff Colley and Imagen Brands in order to create a “Hit It To Win It” contest at a local Golf Outing. (I talked about this event a bit here where I found the cooler I didn’t know I needed!). So what did this look like? How do you make it happen? Watch this fun video to see it in action.
As you can see, you can have a lot of fun with a Brand Experience like this one. One of my favorite comments from the day was, “I have done around 100 golf outings, and I have never seen anything like this!” This was music to my ears. This is the kind of impact you want to make at your event. I want to give a quick shout out to Danny Rosin from Brand Fuel for making me start thing of events and Brand Experiences in this way. The fact is, we have a chance to make a difference at our events or in our organizations if we just start to think differently (and bigger) about how to make it happen! Thanks Danny! So what does your Brand Experience look like? How can you take your event to the next level? What fun stunt can you create at your next company function? Get your wheels turning…and let’s make some fun! If you want to make sure you never miss an update, sign up for our VIP newsletter here. But if you want to get shopping for ideas for your next Brand Experience, head to our site now.
